A group promoting individual liberty rallied Saturday afternoon to strip the Knox County Board of Health of its mandate powers.
“No elected politician, or in this case an appointed board, should have the right to decide whether your business is valuable,” Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles told The Tennessee Star.
Ogles spoke at the rally hosted by Tennessee Stands on Saturday afternoon.
Tennessee Stands, which describes itself as “a nonprofit social advocacy organization that serves to protect the individual liberties of all Tennesseans as stated in the Tennessee State Constitution and given to us by God,” organized the rally to push the Knox County Commission to vote in favor of an ordinance that would strip the Knox County Board of Health of its mandate powers, an return it strictly to an advisory role.
The group believes that the Knox County Board of Health has overstepped its boundaries during the COVID-19 pandemic with mask mandates and forced business closures.
If a supermajority of the 11-member County Commission votes in favor of a second reading of the ordinance, a special session will be convened to vote on the board’s mandate power before the end of the year. The vote on the second reading will be held Monday.
“We need to make some noise and tell them to VOTE YES and move the Knox County Board of Health into an advisory role. No more mandates from an unelected board!” an invitation to the rally said.
The Star spoke with Ogles by phone before the event.
“We’ve now set a precedent that during an emergency that state laws and the Constitution don’t matter,” Ogles said. “If I wanted to be ruled by a King, I’d move to Great Britain. But I don’t want to be ruled by a King. I live in Tennessee.”
Ogles and Tennessee Stands are also concerned with the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, which Ogles says should not be mandatory.
“This would apply to masks, this would apply to business, and this would apply to the vaccine,” he said. “No one should be forced to take a vaccine against their will.”
“I would encourage everyone in the state of Tennessee to reach out to state legislators,” he said. “The state legislature has authority to put an end to unconstitutional mandates. They meet in January. They have a job to do, and we’re asking them to do it.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Tennessee Star and the Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
I would encourage the county commission, legislature, and anyone who believes in mask and lockdown mandates to think about the slippery slope of giving up our rights in the name of an emergency (in this case the faux covid spook show). Robert Kennedy Jr. recently shared his thoughts on this, keep in mind he is a Democrat. You can view the video of what he thinks on Rumble as YouTube took it down shortly after it was uploaded. I have included the link below but you can also find by searching Robert Kennedy Jr’s Message on Covid. So is this what we really want? Think about what you are seeing in the news (Andrew Yang says we need downloadable bar codes to our phones to prove we have had the covid vaccine) and ask yourself where this ends.
https://rumble.com/vc0a9t-robert-kennedy-jrs-terrifying-message-on-covid-and-the-vaccine.html?mref=23gga&mrefc=5
Yes! They should, no, they MUST obey the Tennessee Declaration of Rights to which they ALL swear an oath or resign. Public health orders or mandates, especially and including any mandated vaccinations are in VIOLATION of what we the citizens of Tennessee have DECLARED to our elected officials and appointed agents. Judges are also included. They are also UNDER and must obey the law.
We ranked 37th in healthcare outcomes in this country. And you want me to listen to our “health experts?” Pennsylvania’s lead healthcare expert czar is a transgendered woman / man, who appears to be overweight as well. I would like to see the eating habits and waist sizes of some of these “healthcare czars.”
If wearing mask or lockdowns had worked this would have ended in May. The Mayor’s of Knoxville and Nashville both should be removed from office, but in Nashville there is a long line of Communist behind Cooper so there are many replacements, Knoxville also probably. Ogles for Governor.
YESSIR! We need one of these Guys to primary Lee! NO MASK MANDATES! NO VACCINE MANDATES! NO LOCKDOWNS!